Lucite is a material often associated with either Hollywood Regency glamor or Disco-era, stripper-shoe 'glam,' but 80 years after it was first created, it is still a versatile and beloved material in interiors. Let's take a look at the history behind this material, and some of the iconic furniture designs that have taken advantage of its properties. Lucite is actually a brand name for a kind of acrylic resin that is basically the same thing as Plexiglas, Perspex and other trademarks, but, just as the brand name "Kleenex" has come to denote any tissue, I will hereafter refer to all these things as Lucite. These materials were first developed in the early 1930s, by DuPont (Lucite) and Rohm & Haas (Plexiglas). Lucite was commercially available by 1937, and the material was soon being used in various designs, from jewelry to handbags to furniture. One of the earliest and most famous suites of Lucite furniture was commissioned for Helena Rubinstein's New York City apartment (images above and right).
The suite was totally unique and almost comically glamorous — no surprise that it was designed by the artist Ladislas Medgyes, who was not only an interior decorator but also a stage designer who had started a school of stagecraft in Paris that helped promote a Surrealist aesthetic. Rubinstein's acrylic furniture was manufactured by Rohm and Haas (sometimes erroneously credited as "Roman Haas," but the company was actually named for a Mr. Rohm and Mr. Haas, both of whom were coincidentally named Otto) around 1939-1940. During World War II, lucite was in common use for military applications, including airplane windshields, bomber noses and submarine periscopes. After all, it was highly durable, low in density, and resistant to wind, water and UV rays, which are definitely the qualities you look for when you're building a military aircraft (at least, it's what I look for). After the war, manufacturers needed to find non-military uses for Lucite, so they licensed it widely. It became a favorite material for handbags and jewelry, and by the 1960s it was often found in furniture, as well.
Karl Springer, Vladimir Kagan, Charles Hollis Jones (image above) and Gaetano Sciolari (image below) are just some of the designers who are well-known for their work in Lucite beginning in the '60s, but they were not the only ones who found the material simultaneously flexible, durable and chic. Like so many other things, Lucite could have been totally ruined by the '80s, Vegas, and the aforementioned stripper shoes. But manufacturers like Kartell have kept acrylic furniture classy through the decades. The recent Lucite renaissance can probably be traced back to 2002, when Philippe Starck introduced his Louis Ghost Chair (image at very top), produced by Kartell. Today, Lucite is used in interiors of varied styles, its light touch belying its military past. Images: 1 Philippe Starck "Louis Ghost" chairs and a Lucite table in a Palm Springs interior designed by Michael Moloney and photographed by Joe Schmelzer for Elle Decor2 Helena Rubinstein's illuminated Lucite bed, designed by Ladislas Medgyes and produced by Rohm & Haas in the late-1930s, in a photograph from a 1941 Life magazine, via Peak of Chic3 Helena Rubinstein's Lucite chair
, originally from a set of 8, designed by Ladislas Medgyes and produced by Rohm & Haas in the late-1930s, now in the collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh4 World War II military plane with Plexiglas parts, image from the Rohm & Haas archive5 Original waterfall barstool by Charles Hollis Jones (1963), designed for Playboy Magazine's Pip's Club in LA. Available at R Gallery6 Lucite, brass and chrome chandelier by Gaetano Sciolari, via Apartment Therapy7 A Miami interior by Jennifer Post, from the July 2009 Architectural Digest Originally published 6.15.11 - JLThe 18th century was a tumultuous time in France, reflected in revolutionary shifts in furniture design. The heavy baroque chairs of Louis XIV and the more delicate rococo style of Louis XV were replaced by a sophisticated new look dubbed neoclassical, which covered the fateful era of Louis XVI, from about 1774 to 1792. If you covet the armchairs that found favor with Marie Antoinette, a few simple distinctions will ensure that the correct Louis graces your dining room.
Great Digs and Good BonesHistory and ruins had an outsize influence on the court furnishings of the last Louis. During his reign, archaeologists discovered the lost city of Pompei with its furniture nearly intact. At the same time, Greek classical ruins were being excavated, and the clean lines, fluted columns and regal ornamentation of the Roman and Greek empires became all the rage in French society. From squarish, masculine baroque and curvy, delicate rococo, the cabinetmakers and menuisiers -- the carpenters who specialized in chairs -- turned to symmetrical, straight lines, legs fluted like Greek columns, and a lighter, more graceful shape. The new style was dubbed neoclassical. A Louis XVI armchair is itself a classic design that readily adapts to contemporary decor in a dining room, boudoir or salon. Le FauteuilThe armchair is known as a fauteuil, a wood chair with upholstered seat, seat back and manchettes -- small padded sections on the arms. Wood may be gilded or exposed, and it is often carved with very specific motifs.
Baroque court chairs featured stretchers separating the legs, gilding and tortoiseshell patterns on wood, and carved gargoyles, griffins, lions' heads and paws. Rococo retained the gilding with very feminine and exotic carving and S-curved cabriole legs. But Louis XVI chairs let the beauty of the expensive hardwoods shine through. One favored wood was mahogany, a prized import from the New World. Upholstered chair backs are medallion-shaped or square, and the straight legs are tapered, almost always fluted, sometimes topped by carved pilasters. The style is never fussy; chairs are lithe, refined and ornamented with plenty of carved decoration on the arms, encircling the medallion or framing the square back, edging the seat and capping the fluted legs. MotifsOnly rich people could afford bespoke, hand-carved furniture in prerevolutionary France, but the hostile, unbridgeable gap between rich and poor inspired greater simplicity of ornamentation. Design may have been toned down in a doomed attempt at self-preservation, but it still represented an ostentatious display of wealth and cosmopolitan tastes.
The columns, pilasters, lyres and wreaths were a nod to ancient Greece. Garlands, draped folds, rosettes, urns and explosions of flowers conjured the Roman empire and appealed to French fancy. Tiny details differentiate some of the motifs. The acanthus leaf was popular during the reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI, but, in Louis XVI furniture, the leaves tend to face sedately in one direction. The lobes and veins are not as deeply cut or curled as their predecessors, although every lobe is separated and the slightly rounded edges are serrated. Louis' GhostWhen you want the look but not the expense or maintenance of an original, conjure Louis' ghost with Philippe Starck's iconic molded polycarbonate knock-off. Starck designed a Louis XVI "ghost chair" that mimics the unmistakable shape of the neoclassical original. The chairs are entirely transparent, slipping easily into a home office, a dining room with a sleek glass table or a breakfast nook with a Saarinen round or oval table. Ghost chairs are a godsend in small spaces with their big style, hint of history, and disappearing outlines.